Melissa Kieffer

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Turns out that everyday objects like cans, bottles and cardboard cups can serve as the perfect gateways to Snapchat. Just ask Gatorade, Wendy's and Evian.<p>These are just a few among a growing roster of brands that hopped on the Snapcode bandwagon this past summer, using Snapchat's own version of QR …

The architecture students at Auburn University's Rural Studio prove that well-designed homes can still be affordable, thanks to their initiative called the 20K Project. The undergraduate program advocates for social justice through architecture, and to demonstrate this, students have created …

Sustainable energy wouldn’t just help combat climate change; it would also save at least 4.3 million lives annually<p>Discussions of climate change are often abstract. Yet with a dangerous increase in destructive extreme weather and a proliferation in large-scale droughts, its adverse effects are …

Cornell Tech, an applied sciences program out of Cornell University, is building a giant futuristic campus on New York City's Roosevelt Island. But the most exciting part of the campus isn't in the academic buildings or green spaces — it's the dorms.<p>The campus's 250-foot tall residential high-rise …

We used and abused seven eco-friendly countertops to investigate if they could stand the heat of Dwell’s kitchen.<p>If choosing paint colors doesn’t give you a headache, the fumes probably will—unless you pick from the growing array formulated...<p>YLighting recently alerted us to the new …

Drawing from the laws of nature, an architect devises a way to beat the heat in the California desert.<p>The Blue Sky prototype home tiptoes gracefully across the desert landscape just north of Joshua Tree National Park.<p>In the high desert landscape of Yucca Valley, California, the rectilinear Graham …

Each week, we tap into Dwell's Instagram community to bring you the most captivating design and architecture shots of the week.<p>Have you ever walked past a house on your way to work and thought, Wouldn’t it be nice to live there. Artist Judith Brenner did.<p>In San Francisco’s Alamo Square, Jensen …

Using a combination of passive design principles and active technologies, LGA Architectural Partners forges a smart,...<p>John and Paige Damiano are snow worshippers.<p>If you're looking to make your home work more efficiently and reduce energy costs, the smart home market has a lot to offer.<p>Japanese …

Using a combination of passive design principles and active technologies, LGA Architectural Partners forges a smart,...<p>John and Paige Damiano are snow worshippers.<p>If you're looking to make your home work more efficiently and reduce energy costs, the smart home market has a lot to offer.<p>Drawing from …

Could this be the end of the great bulb ban of 2014? We sure hope so.<p>It's only been two years since we bid farewell to the incandescent light bulb and already, they may be making a return.<p>According to Fast Company, scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have developed a …

There are feelings you get when you enter an Ikea store. The vertiginous experience of getting lost in their craftily designed labyrinth. The surprise of wandering into something you hadn't intended to buy. The discomfiting almost-warmth of a fake apartment. The faintly reassuring sense that your …

MIT wants to make transportation planning more transparent—and a bit more fun.<p>MIT researchers unveiled something earlier this month that will please toddlers and serious urban planners alike. It’s a model of Dudley Square—a neighborhood in the greater Boston area—about the size of a kitchen table. …

This might be hard for rich people to hear, but it’s actually better for everyone if people of different classes live near each other and interact regularly.<p>If you live in a million-dollar condo in Philadelphia’s ritzy Rittenhouse Square, your neighbors are likely to be equally well-off; the …

If you jailbroke your iOS device using my full guide recently, then you’ve no doubt discovered a world of tweaking that’s kept you entertained for days. However, there are so many tweaks out there that it can be daunting knowing which ones to choose. Likewise, you may not have any idea what …

A brick and fuchsia tunnel creates a time warp in this semi-detached Victorian in a Melbourne suburb.<p>The dream of owning a Brooklyn brownstone is just one of many reasons why people make the move to the popular outer borough.<p>Despite their humble origins, these modern converted barns are anything …